1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electrical connectors and, more particularly, to electrical contacts in connectors for connection to traces on an edge of a daughter printed circuit board.
2. Prior Art
In the electrical arts it is a common practice to use a connector to mechanically and electrically couple a mother printed circuit board with a daughter printed circuit board as of the vertical edge card variety. In such a practice, there has been an evolution towards placing electrical contacts closer and closer together while maintaining a high, constant stress between the electrical contacts and the areas to be contacted. In placing the contacts closer together, as to 20 contacts per linear inch, the width of each contact must decrease. This, in turn, makes it much more difficult to keep the proper contact stress between the contact and the areas to be contacted on the edge card while also assuring proper alignment between the two upon insertion of the edge card into the connector. One approach in the past was to apply a spherical dimple stamped into the contact.
In the past, there have been used connector contacts with dimples and without dimples. In addition, crowns have been placed on certain types of larger contacts as by the coining process. Also in the past, a wide variety of materials have been used as contacts and a wide variety of techniques have been used for assembling the contacts into the housing for pre-stressing purposes. Nowhere in the prior art, however, is there a connector with contacts of the reduced sizes and with the increased, constant stresses to achieve the performance as described and claimed therein. Although many prior advances are noteworthy to one extent or another, none achieves the objective of an effective, efficient, compact and economical connector with contacts, each having a coined bend and a contact area formed of compound radii.
Another problem that has arisen with prior art card edge connectors is that, due to the relatively small size of contacts and connectors, when an edge of a daughter board is inserted into a connector, the contacts may not actually contact the daughter board on the contacts' intended contact area. This is because, as the contact is pushed away by the daughter board, the contact changes shape and/or orientation, at least partially. This can result in an area of the contacts, other than the intended contact area, contacting the daughter board and potentially not providing the desired contact stress against the daughter board.
Another problem that has arisen with prior art card edge connectors is that, because of the relatively small size of contacts and connectors, a daughter board being inserted into a connector can damage the contacts in the connector if the leading edge of the daughter board jams against a top portion of the contacts without the contacts moving out of the way fast enough.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a new and improved contact and connector that can overcome the above problems in the prior art as well as provide additional features and advantages.